In this article, Boldt considers decisions teachers must make about the value of children's writing as a form of play in primary classrooms. She offers a brief history of the framing of this question at 1966 Dartmouth Conference on English, focusing particularly on the perspective of Jimmy Britton. She highlights the relationship between Britton's…

Stressing the importance of teaching the writing skills students will need in the adult workplace, the conference papers in this booklet present some of the significant research in practical writing and show how this research applies to classroom instruction. Following the introduction, the five essays discuss the following topics: (1) youth,…

In this essay, I examine the problems I now see with the sample curriculum I proposed in "College Writing and Beyond: A New Framework for Writing Instruction" in 2007. There are numerous factors that must be considered in designing a writing course: choice of subject matter, choice of genres to assign, sequencing of writing assignments, number of…

Reflects upon, and makes recommendations for, teaching young children to read, write, and spell. Focuses on meeting children's emotional needs, essential components of healthy emotional development, how reading is typically taught, and learning letters and phonics. Stresses the importance of paying equal attention to developmental ages and stages,…

H.P. Grice's theory of conversation can be used effectively to teach revision in composition courses because it teaches students the rules for effective writing. Grice has formulated a general principle, the Cooperative Principle, based on the assumption that talk-exchanges among speakers are "cooperative efforts" having "a common…

A study explored the role of peer collaboration in literacy development as a case study in the broader inquiry on the social nature of learning and cognitive development. Fourteen low-achieving 7- to 9-year-old children in a third-grade urban classroom used a word processor to write four stories individually and three stories collaboratively with…

Recounts a literature instructor's successful entry into teaching technical writing. (HTH)

Argues that the needs of two-year college composition students are best served by approaches emphasizing multiple literacies and "deep portfolios." Suggests how such an approach might be constituted, and explains what a deep portfolio approach would entail. (HB)

Time and opportunity to discover truths are essential in education. Discovery takes repetition and trial and error. Discovery crosses intellectual and disciplinary boundaries as well. What is learned through the diverse experiences of one's academic and individual lives will pollinate each other if there is room left for discovery. The tyranny of…

Considers how participation in the Writing Project Summer Institute is reflected in classroom practice in the teaching of writing. Argues that the experience of learning as a construction of knowledge produces converts to such a model of learning that is reflected in the classroom. (HB)

Despite the current emphasis on thinking skills and the resulting concentration on lists and taxonomies that do not succeed beyond research contexts, all reflective people know that critical thought relies not on applying mental steps but on simply trying to figure out what might be right or wrong. This depends on one basic cognitive act,…

In the writing classroom, students and instructors alike must not only theorize experience but must also experience theory. This is no easy task, for despite cultural studies' emphasis on the "subjective side of social relations," contemporary theory is heavily directed toward signifying practices, and, as Lawrence Grossberg argues,…

This collection of 23 essays on the applications of technology in education, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, is divided into four chapters. The first chapter examines the effect of media on the message to be delivered, and includes essays on classroom use of television, the use of computers to support the learner, and…

Focuses on problems encountered with computer-aided writing instruction. Discusses conflicts caused by the computer classroom concept, some general paradoxes and ethical implications of computer-aided instruction. (EL)

Tells the story of how two new English education professors attempted to introduce alternative methods of writing assessment to their education students. Explains the beliefs the professors brought to the experience and how these beliefs were altered by the resistance the professors encountered from their students. (TB)